Iran suffers defeat against Russia in FIVB World League

The photo shows a view of the Pool H1 - Group 1 match between Iran (players in red) and Russia and at the 2017 FIVB Volleyball World League in Lodz, Poland, on June 18, 2017.

The national Iranian men’s volleyball team has suffered another bitter defeat at the third week of the 2017 Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) World League, slumping to Russia.

On Sunday, Russia powered past Iran with a convincing straight-set (26-24, 25-18 and 25-18) victory at the end of a Pool H1 - Group 1 fixture at Atlas Arena in the central Polish city of Łódź.

Russia sealed a berth in the Final Six round of the 2017 FIVB World League in the Southern Brazilian city of Curitiba with the win.

Egor Kliuka scored a match-high of 13 points for Russia, consisting of 11 from his powerful spikes and two blocks. Mojtaba Mirzajanpour led Iran with only 10 points.

“This match didn’t have big rivalry meaning for us, because it was already known that we can’t qualify for the final six; while for Russia it was very important. Russia is a big team, which they showed today and in general during this tournament, because they won with all opponents,” Iran’s head coach Igor Kolakovic said after the match.

The photo shows a view of the Pool H1 - Group 1 match between Iran (players in red) and Russia and at the 2017 FIVB Volleyball World League in Lodz, Poland, on June 18, 2017.

He added, “I had a chance to give other players opportunity to play. They didn’t spend long time on court before, during the major events. Although, I think that they used this opportunity in good way. They showed good volleyball, but to win with Russia much more is needed. I am happy with how they fought until the middle of the second set.”

“I think it was not a good match, but we lost a chance to qualify for the final six before and for Russia it was a very important game. But it’s good that we played with six other players. They played very good even if they don’t have a lot of experience from this World League. They played with their maximum, but it’s Russia and they were perfect in serve and block during this tournament and it was difficult to play against them,” Iranian captain Saeid Marouf commented.